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Unless you missed the current weather updates on Facebook by people taking pictures of thermometers and dashboard readouts, you know it was pretty cold on Monday and Tuesday.

Of course, a lot of us didn’t need these common social media occurrences to tell us this. Stepping outside was enough, or in our case, a vehicle not starting was a pretty good indication that temperatures were throwing up a big solid nope.

As is common for the Midwest, it’s a familiar greeting for people to throw out, “cold enough for ya?” with a laugh and a shake of the head. In turn we laugh back, shake our own heads and wonder secretly how many times that person has said that very same thing to others in a day.

Quite frankly, it is cold enough, but it’s never been something I’ve ever been concerned with as many of you are well aware of by now.

It comes with the territory, as does a smug sense of satisfaction as we watch people living in and south of Missouri, who treat snow and cold like the next big disaster movie.

A light freezing rain that might prompt us to put an extra sandbag in the back of the truck, guts store shelves in the south as they wonder how they will make it through the week or see loved ones ever again.

A tad dramatic maybe, but there it is.

Every year, we get weather of this type. The bracing kind that usually results in most of us grabbing a cup of coffee and staring out the window in visual confirmation of, “yep, it’s cold,” even though the only confirmation we have is said pictures people have taken of identical temperatures as if its breaking news and the lone brave soul walking past the house.

And believe me, there is always that one brave soul hoofing it through the biting temperatures to somewhere that has a person wondering what could be so important that somebody is out walking in said temperatures.

Personally, I’ve been that soul several times because if you dress right, the walks can be enjoyable.

If you’ve ever walked in the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center or similar forested areas during the winter, especially on cold and bitter days, you will notice a different kind of tone to the sounds of the world around you.

The stillness is muted and the wind just carries differently and in its way, it’s just more peaceful. A couple of years ago I ventured into the Nature Center early in the morning, with their permission, to try and photograph an eclipse.

It was bitterly cold and as I trudged my way through the perfect dark and stillness, I noticed this very phenomenon. The air shifted not a bit and though cold, the wind was still and virtually nonexistent.

Above me, the skies were clearer than I had seen them in quite some time, another effect of the cold and the winter as it seems to bring the night skies into spectacular focus.

It was somewhat uncomfortable at first, but as I walked and trudged through the snow, the exertion warmed me through to a point that only the area around my eyes was cold.

Of course, the downside is that it was so cold that by the time I got to my spot to see the eclipse, the camera refused to work. I believe the wind chill hovered close to temperatures we suffered through early Tuesday morning.

Even the simple act of even messing with the camera through gloved and sometimes ungloved hands was challenging and sometimes painful.

The walk to get to that point took longer than shooting the eclipse, but instead of turning around and walking quickly back to the parking lot, I took the opportunity to do something I hadn’t done since my youth. I packed the camera up, insulated it the best I could and laid on my back in the snow.

As I lay there, the snow acted as an insulator and while still cold, it was actually somewhat comfortable. Through the plumes of my breath drifting lazily into the windless sky, I just for a moment watched the stars in the heart of a frigid Nature Center, knowing that I was alone to my thoughts and the universe.

I’m not entirely sure how long I laid there, but eventually the cold got to a point where I worked my way back to my vehicle  and an Austin Police Officer I knew who was checking my car out. I told him what I had been doing and why I was there.

He asked me, “cold enough for you?”